Brakspears oxford gold feel

[jonnyhop]

Got a brew planned to liven up the first week back at work, going for a Brakspears oxford gold feel.

4kg maris otter
200g flaked maze
50g crystal

mash at 65c for 60 mins

90 min boil

40g target 60 mins
20g golding 15 mins
20g golding 0mins

My last all grain was a bit flat (I like to secondary ferment which may be the problem) hoping the flaked maze will sort this out.

I have 3 bottles of oxford gold in the fridge which I am going to try to cultivate the yeast from tonight, hoping to brew on Monday. If not SO-4 is an able back up.

I got my hands on some Willamette hops in 1oz portions and could be tempted to substitute for the goldings at 0mins.

Has anyone tried to clone this beer before?

Jonny

[jonnyhop]

there has been some success discussed with the bottled yeast here

viewtopic.php?f=12&t=17230

but the plan is to have a look on monday and see if it looks healthy, if not pour in the SO-4

[coatesg]

I have a brew that I used the Brakspear yeast conditioning now (from the Oxford Gold bottles too!) - cliky!.

I haven't cracked one yet, but the small sample jar gave me a lovely fruity flavour. It's been in bottle about 2 weeks now - maybe I'll crack the first tonight and see how it has turned out.

Oxford gold has a sharp zesty flavour to me - the ones I had were quite well carbonated too (and had an amazing Orange colour!).

[jonnyhop]

Its been roughly 24 hours since I pitched the yeast into the starter and its not looking great. There is a tiny amount of yeast at the bottom of the bottle and the smell is still very much spraymalt rather then yeast. I will force myself to drink another Oxford Gold and add the yeat from that to the starter, but I'm glad I have the SO-4 as a back up.

[Bryggmester]

Don't worry just yet about the lack of signs of life with the starter, just make sure it is reasonably warm and give it a good swirl everynow and then. When I have made starters from bottle conditioned beer it used to take anything from one to three days to get going.

[jonnyhop]

It is looking a lot healthier today, with a visible chunk of yeast at the bottom of the bottle so all systems are go!